News & Current Events

Story and photos by Pete Shaw With a unanimous vote, the Portland City Council on February 18 approved a resolution updating the City’s Fair Wage Policy to a $15 per hour minimum. Its passage will affect over 100 janitors, security guards, parking attendants, concessions workers, and others who work for companies that contract with...Read More »

Story by Pete Shaw More than 50 activists visited the offices of Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Senator Ron Wyden to demand the men vote against giving President Obama the Fast Track Authority he likely needs to gain passage of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). A so-called free trade agreement (FTA) between 12 countries in...Read More »

Story by Pete Shaw On May 12, 2010, Keaton Otis, a Black man, was killed by the Portland police. Since that date there has been vigil in his honor and memory on the 12th of each month near the southwest corner of NE 6th and Halsey, just feet from the site of his murder....Read More »

Story and photos by Pete Shaw A Valentine’s night vigil was held in Portland’s Pioneer Square to reflect upon the lives of three young Muslims murdered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on February 10. Over 100 people held candles in memory of Deah Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha and to stand...Read More »

Story by Pete Shaw Great courage is being show by Black people–particularly young Black women–leading the various groups demanding greater justice and, more specifically, those demanding police accountability and the abolition of the current police system built on a foundation of racism and brutality. Media focus, however, is often on Black men and...Read More »

Story by Pete Shaw Members of Right 2 Dream Too and Don’t Shoot PDX appeared before the Portland City Council on January 21 to demand action to ensure people without housing and people of color receive the same justice afforded the most privileged members of society. Their demands were laced with quotes from...Read More »

Story and photos by Pete Shaw Very early in Senator Ron Wyden’s town hall meeting on January 3 he proudly announced that he had held over 700 of these meetings since becoming a senator. As events turned out in this surprising evening, It may have been the first one where he actually had no...Read More »

Story by Pete Shaw Walidah Imarisha was winding down a late November presentation about alternatives to police and prison at Portland Community College when a person in the audience announced the failure of a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury to indict Officer Darren Wilson for murdering Michael Brown. Imarisha paused, then shook her head....Read More »

Story and photos by Pete Shaw Protests and others actions, ranging from peaceful gatherings to more militant non-violent marches, as well as the rare–but widely reported by the corporate media–examples of rioting and looting, began around the country on November 24 in the wake of the failure of a Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury to...Read More »

Story by Pete Shaw In 2013 local filmmakers and activists Jodi Darby, Julie Perini, and Erin Yanke produced Safe and Sound?, a short video to educate people about police violence, not as the product of a few rogue officers, but one that is inherent to the current system of policing. The film, which...Read More »